Getting close to releasing what I believe will be the new standard in storage diagnostics for sysadmins and service people … Let me know what you think!!

The SANtool™ is a multi-platform portable storage diagnostic tool. The SANtool enables the administrator/technician to efficiently diagnose, test, tune, break and/or repair storage peripherals. Unlike traditional software diagnostics there is nothing to license, “install” or remove. Plug the SANtool USB Flash stick into a machine running a supported Windows or UNIX/LINUX operating system, and start using the software. The diagnostics are performed by SANtools® command-line program, (SMARTMon-UX), and controlled via a web browser over a secure (SSL) connection. All HTML, Javascript files, images, the embedded web server, and O/S-specific executables are included on the SANtool. No java runtime, external DLLs, drivers, or web servers are required.

“AFR and MTBF specifications are based on the following assumptions for desktop personal computer environments: .. 2400 power-on-hours per year” , so reads this screenshot is from the Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 product manual. Read more…

The link to Seagate data recovery services is https://services.seagate.com/online_request_form.aspx. Fill out the form, and they send you information. If you drop the disk drive off to a UPS store, then they pick up the costs so shipping is free (unless you want to overnight it). The two recovery centers in the USA are in Chicago and Santa Clara. The Seagate (US) 24 Hour Critical Response Number is: Read more…

The nature and scope of the Seagate 7200.11 boot-of-death problem has been blown way out of proportion, and people are making grossly incorrect assumptions. Seagate recently released a failure analysis report under non-disclosure to some (or all, I don’t know) OEM partners and distributors that describes the issue in great detail. Why under NDA? In my opinion, full knowledge of the problem could potentially create a blueprint for virus writers who want to go beyond just erasing files on targeted machines. So to be safe, full specifics aren’t being disclosed (but you can now find a little more info on Tom’s Hardware if you know where to look).

As part of the manufacturing process, Seagate writes diagnostic information to reserved areas of the disk drives. These bit patterns work with the test equipment and drive firmware to perform diagnostic actions such as placing it in a secure lockdown mode. Read more…

From 5th USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies

Component failure in large-scale IT installations is becoming an ever larger problem as the number of components in a single cluster approaches a million.In this paper, we present and analyze field-gathered disk replacement data from a number of large production systems, including high-performance computing sites and internet services sites. About 100,000 disks are covered by this data, some for an entire lifetime of five years. The data include drives with SCSI and FC, as well as SATA interfaces. The mean time to failure (MTTF) of those drives, as specified in their datasheets, ranges from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 hours, suggesting a nominal annual failure rate of at most 0.88%. Read more…

The firmware that is supposed to fix the boot-of-death problem on Seagate 7200.11 disks is “In Validation”.

“!!WARNING!!
The software and information in this article could be data destructive and/or render your hard drive inoperable if not followed carefully. It is always recommended to keep a backup of critical data.

KBK LLP looking for plaintiffs for class-action lawsuit against Seagate

“Owners of Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drives are reporting that their hard disk drives are failing at alarming rates. These failures, which have been reported to be as high as 30 to 40%, are believed to arise from faulty firmware that can cause the drives to suddenly lockup and stop working. We (Kabateck Brown Kellner LLP) are presently investigating a potential lawsuit

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